The present invention relates to a solar ray collection apparatus for converging solar rays or energy and routing it through a light conducting member to a desired remote station for illumination or like purpose.
A solar ray collecting and transmitting apparatus, which I have proposed, uses Fresnel lenses to converge solar rays and fiber optic cables to transmit the converged light to a remote station for illumination and other applications. Such an apparatus, winning increasing appraisal today, requires a system which is capable of provision with a relatively large capacity and production on a quantity basis in contrast to the conventional nonquantity production of small capacity apparatuses. Therefore, while the apparatus has to be of a structure which is suitable for a larger capacity and a mass-production line, merely modifying the prior art apparatus to increase its scale would not only render the structure intricate but would result in considerable time and labor necessary for focusing lenses in the course of assembly.
In detail, the prior art solar ray collector includes two or more tubular members each having a hexagonal cross-section and combined with the others to constitute a framework. Hexagonal Fresnel lenses are attached one by one to the ends of the individual tubular members. Due to such a number of Fresnel lenses, an attempt to increase the capacity of this type of apparatus would invite significant intricacy in the operation for focusing the lenses. Also, the resulting number of lens support elements would make the overall structure complicated and heavy and, thereby, the time and cost required for production would be prohibitive.
In light of the above, a large size lens may be desired for assembling a solar ray collector having a large capacity. This, however, suffers from the drawback that the lens has to be designed each time to a specific capacity of a solar ray collector at the sacrifice of the cost. It is also known that large size lenses bring about various problems when coupled with fiber optic cables.
Meanwhile, a solar ray collector is inevitably effected by the solar heat due to the construction and operation particular thereto. The solar heat tends to expand structural elements of the apparatus to different extents and, thereby, totally destruct the required optical features thereof, e.g. focal points of the lenses.